Tag Archives: Ida Taylor

John Fry Family Cemetery (2015)

22 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by in Cemeteries, Green Shoal

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The John Fry Family Cemetery, which I revisited on 12 June 2015, is located at the mouth of Green Shoal Creek in Lincoln County, West Virginia.

ADKINS SECTION

Row 1

Randal S. Adkins (11 July 1953-04 July 2014); s/o Samuel and Edith (Gore) Adkins

David Ray Adkins (20 August 1937-05 May 1973); s/o Samuel and Edith (Gore) Adkins

Edith Gore Adkins (31 October 1912-10 April 1975); d/o M. French and Weltha (Kirk) Gore; m. Samuel Adkins

Samuel Adkins (18 March 1914-20 March 1976); s/o Pleasant B. “Fed” and Marinda S. (Davis) Adkins

Samuel D. Adkins (24 October 1960-30 June 1984); s/o David R. and Donna L. (Adkins) Adkins

Donna Lou Adkins (17 December 1941-23 December 2005); d/o Ernest C. and Bessie (McNeely) Adkins; m. Samuel D. Adkins

Rodney David Adkins (15 November 1965-still alive); s/o David R. and Donna L. (Adkins) Adkins

Row 2

John D. Adkins (18 June 1916-01 May 1980); s/o Pleasant B. “Fed” and Marinda S. (Davis) Adkins; nicknamed “Red John;” S2 US NAVY WWII

Goldie Adkins (21 September 1918-04 February 1992); d/o Joseph and Georgia (Gartin) Brumfield; m. John D. Adkins

Row 3

Georgia Brumfield (1900-1984); d/o James A. and Chloe A. (Fry) Gartin; m. Joseph “Joe” Brumfield

BRUMFIELD SECTION

Row 1

Wayne C. Brumfield (1901-1976); s/o James S. and Letilla (Dial) Brumfield

Maggie A. Brumfield (1917-1996); d/o Richard A. and Sarah A. (Wiley) Adkins; m. Wayne C. Brumfield

(gap)

Jack Brumfield (23 June 1918-23 March 1990); s/o James S. and Letilla (Dial) Brumfield

Belva Brumfield (11 June 1922-16 March 1984); m. Jack Brumfield

A bench placed on Jack and Belva’s graves reads: Jackie G. Brumfield (17 August 1950-25 December 2011); d/o Jack and Belva (Simpkins) Brumfield

Row 2

Christopher Lee Adkins (23 March 1983-24 August 2000)

Row 3

George E. Taylor (19 May 1919-03 May 1975)

Ida P. Taylor (14 December 1914-2007); d/o James S. and Letilla (Dial) Brumfield; m. George E. Taylor

Sarabeth Shelton (19 April 1989-17 November 1993); d/o Robert and Jackie (Easterling) Shelton

Jackie Lee Easterling (16 April 1941-still alive)

Sarah Lee Easterling (11 May 1942-29 March 2005); d/o George E. and Ida P. (Brumfield) Taylor; m. Jackie Lee Easterling

Row 4

Michael E. Taylor (25 February 1949-16 January 2008); s/o George and Ida (Brumfield) Taylor; nicknamed “Mickey”

LAMBERT SECTION

Row 1

Lonnie Lambert (14 March 1901-22 July 1995); s/o Samuel and Georgia E. (Lucas) Lambert

Edna Mae Lambert (30 September 1905-19 November 1980); d/o James S. and Letilla (Dial) Brumfield; m. Lonnie Lambert

Row 2

Cecil Lambert, Jr. (27 September 1925-2014); s/o Lonnie and Edna (Brumfield) Lambert

Kathleen Ann Lambert (01 October 1926-19 February 2010)

Billy Ray Lambert (06 February 1950-16 August 1950)

Row 3

Everett Lonnie Dean (08 May 1950-29 January 1951)

FRY SECTION

Row 1

Zola Frye (07 May 1919-09 September 1964); d/o Clarence and Angaline (Mullins) Fry

Thelma P. Carter (1918-1967); d/o Clarence and Angaline (Mullins) Fry; m. Hassell Carter

Row 2

unmarked grave with rock headstone and little square footstone

C.L. Fry (Clarence Fry); born November 1886; s/o Daniel C. “Tucker” and Rachel (Lucas) Fry; died 2 March 1948

Angie Fry (Angaline Fry); born 16 December 1896; d/o Emery and Stella (Abbott) Mullins; m. Clarence Fry; died 14 September 1947

Elsie L. Mullins (16 December 1911-08 November 1959); d/o Clarence and Angaline (Mullins) Fry; m. William Mullins

William Mullins, Sr. (12 August 1894-04 February 1975)

ABBOTT SECTION

Row 1

Ottie Fry (1909-1987); s/o G. Cleveland and Betty (Fry) Fry

Row 2

Bobby Ray Abbott (02 April 1969-16 June 2001)

Brian Scott Abbott (04 October 1971-21 March 2011)

Row 3

Woodrow E. Abbott (1914-1977); PVT US ARMY WWII

Wallace Abbott (22 January 1930-30 March 1987); s/o John E. “Cricket” and S. Evona (Fry) Abbott; SP 4 US ARMY KOREA VIETNAM

Denny Hobert Abbott (15 February 1928-22 June 1996); s/o John E. “Cricket” and S. Evona (Fry) Abbott; PFC US ARMY

Row 4

Luther W. Abbott (09 February 1917-02 March 1963); s/o John E. “Cricket” and S. Evona (Fry) Abbott; WV PFC CO E 16 INF WWII P4

John E. Abbott (1892-1966); s/o John H. and Caroline (Fry) Abbott

Evona Abbott (1892-1983); d/o Daniel C. “Tucker” and Rachel (Lucas) Fry; m. John E. Abbott

Row 5

John “Duke” Abbott, Jr. (08 August 1924-03 July 1992); s/o John E. and S. Evona (Fry) Abbott

(gap)

Michael Roy Fry (19 February 1944-20 February 1944); s/o Curtis and Birdie (Bryant) Fry

Row 6

tall rectangular rock headstone and rock footstone

Delphia Adams Bryant (the date of August 22 and an illegible year appears on a small cinderblock); m. Marshall “Bud” Bryant/Mullins

(gap)

perhaps another grave marked by a flat rock that has fallen over

MIDSECTION

Row 1

Wealthy Hatfield (01 May 1904-27 December 1928); d/o Samuel and Georgia E. (Lucas) Lambert; m. Bruce Hatfield

Kenneth Hatfield (05 October 1924-10 October 1925); s/o Bruce and Wealthy (Lambert) Hatfield

unmarked grave with rock headstone and footstone

unmarked grave with rock headstone and footstone

broken baby headstone with rock footstone

Row 2

Katie A. Hunter (died 11 August 1895, aged 13 years, 11 months, 27 days); d/o John E. and Parlee (Ferrell) Hunter

unmarked grave with rock footstone

unmarked grave with rock headstone

UPPER SECTION

Row 1

Rinda Fry (26 January 1826-29 July 1887); d/o Reuben and Clarissa (Perry) Steele; m1. James Davis; m2. ___ Walker; m3. Baptist “Nab” Fry

Baptist Fry (26 November 1824-15 June 1881); s/o John and Catherine (Snodgrass) Fry

(large gap)

Michael George Brumfield (29 January 1948-01 February 1948); s/o Wayne C. and Maggie (Adkins) Brumfield

unmarked grave with rock headstone and footstone (baby)

Cleo Lambert (born and died 18 August 1924); Lonnie C. and Edna (Brumfield) Lambert

Lottie Brumfield (1904-1907); d/o James S. and Letilla (Dial) Brumfield

Bird Brumfield (1850-1905); s/o William R. and Mary A. (Elkins) Brumfield

Sarah A. Brumfield (1853-1932); d/o Charles and Lucinda (Fry) Lucas; m1. William Bird Brumfield; m2. Josephus Irvin Workman

unmarked grave with rock headstone (fallen over) and footstone

Letilla Brumfield (1881-1947); d/o Elisha and Catherine (Fry) Dial; m. James S. Brumfield

Row 2

unmarked grave with small footstone

Julia Ann Dean (born and died 13 June 1948)

Row 3

unmarked grave with rock footstone above Albert Abbott grave

unmarked grave above Lucinda Lucas grave — small rock headstone and footstone

“K.L.” — square rock headstone and footstone above Charles Lucas grave

unmarked grave with sharp rock headstone and footstone above Eliza Fry grave

(large gap)

W.W.A. (29? May 1917-10? June 1917)

Wetzel Brumfield (1910-1932); s/o James S. and Letilla (Dial) Brumfield

unmarked grave with rock headstone and footstone

H.C. Fry painted on a rock (possibly Harvey Fry, son of Baptist Fry)

Row 4

John Fry (10 March 1794-20 October 1883); s/o George and Keziah (Adkins) Fry; PVT CAPT SHIELD CO 7 VA MILITIA WAR OF 1812

“Wilson Abbott, died M.11.92” carved on rock

Albert Abbott (no dates); born 11 July 1824; s/o John A. and Elizabeth (Scott) Abbott; CAPTAIN CARTER’S CO. 129 VA MIL CSA; died before 1900

Druzilla Fry Abbott (11 January 1826-27 September 1889); d/o John and Catherine (Snodgrass) Fry; m. Albert Abbott

L.L. (Lucinda Lucas); born 27 September 1819; d/o John and Catherine (Snodgrass) Fry; m. Charles Lucas; died before 1900

Charles Lucas (2 September 1818-24 November 1904); s/o John and Mary (Fry) Lucas

E.F. (Eliza Virginia Fry); born November 1865; d/o Charles and Lucinda (Fry) Lucas; m. George F. Fry; died c.1902

NOTE 1: Some John Fry descendants are POSITIVE that John Fry died and was buried on Fourteen Mile Creek in Lincoln County. His tombstone was placed at Green Shoal in the 1990s based on a WPA cemetery map.

NOTE 2: I know of other persons buried in this cemetery but cannot identify their exact location. There are also some family members who I suppose to be buried here but have no proof.

Vergia Rooney recalls the “murder house”

03 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Culture of Honor, Ed Haley, Green Shoal, Lincoln County Feud

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In the early summer of 1996, Brandon made contact with Vergia Rooney, a daughter of Jim Brumfield and granddaughter of Paris Brumfield. Vergia was born in 1899 (making her the oldest person interviewed in this project) and was raised on Green Shoal. She was an older sister to Ida Taylor, with whom we had spoken in 1995. She had lived in Texas since 1930.

Vergia said Al Brumfield practically raised her father, who was young when his parents died. Later, when Vergia was about five years old, she went with her father to visit Al at his beautiful two-story white house in Harts. As far as she remembered, Al was well-dressed, clean-shaven, and had dark hair. He was blind, so he wore dark glasses and kept a cane near him. “He was suffering from a progressive illness he had which terminated to him being blind,” Vergia said. For much of the visit, Al sat in the first story front room facing the river, what he called the “sitting room.” He eventually adjourned to the kitchen where he sat at the table and had coffee and a piece of cake.

Vergia said Al’s home was nice and had a store built next to it so close that the two buildings almost touched each other. The whole place was busy with workers, all of whom were supervised by Aunt Hollena Brumfield. Vergia didn’t remember Al having a gristmill but he did have a large barn just up the creek in a bottom. A little further, behind Mae Brumfield’s present-day house, was his log boom, which had in earlier years been the scene of a lot of trouble.

This “earlier trouble,” of course, was the 1889 feud, which Vergia said started when some “McCoy outlaws” became jealous over the Brumfield boom and ambushed Al and Hollena as they rode a single horse down the creek. It was never proven, but Milt Haley and Green McCoy were accused of committing the ambush. They were taken to a two-story, log house at the mouth of Green Shoal and beaten to death by a Brumfield mob.

Vergia’s grandmother Cat Fry hid under a bed during the killings.

The morning after Milt and Green’s murder, Vergia’s mother spotted their bodies on her way to school.

“It was an awful sight,” Vergia said. “They were draped on the front steps and yard. One of them lay across the doorstep going into the house.”

There was never a trial because people like Cat Fry, who knew a lot about the killings, seldom discussed it. Vergia didn’t hear anyone mention the names of the participants when she lived in Harts because many of the people involved were still alive in the community.

Vergia said the murders occurred at the present-day Lon Lambert place at the mouth of Green Shoal. It was vacant when she first remembered it and was in terrible condition. At that time, it faced upriver and had a front and back door, which she remembered swinging open at times, with two steps leading into each of the two doorways. There were windows in the front and back of the house. It had, at most, two rooms on the bottom floor. The upstairs was used as a “drying room” for apples and peaches. Around 1905, Al Davis moved in and remodeled it. He tore the downriver side (back) away, which had pretty much collapsed, and boxed in the old door on the front of the house. A new front door was constructed to face the railroad tracks.

Vergia’s memories of Al Davis living in and remodeling the old Fry home were interesting in that he never owned the property. From 1902 until 1915, the property was in the hands of J.L. Caldwell, who likely rented it to Davis and perhaps others. Watson Lucas bought it in 1919 from Arena Ferrell.

“I am unable to remember in detail about the house as I never was inside the home until Watson Lucas brought the property,” Vergia later wrote Brandon. “I was there twice but several times after the Lamberts purchased the property from Watson Lucas. There were 2 BR, 1 LR-Kitchen, DR and bath room downstairs and I believe, there was a ladder [inside the house] utilized to [get] upstairs for awhile. I was never upstairs, but I think there [were] two rooms upstairs later on.”

Watson’s daughter-in-law Mabel Lucas remembered the home when she moved to Harts in 1939-40 as having four rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs. There was no staircase in the house; to get upstairs, one had to climb a set of steps built outside against the upriver side of the building. So far as Mabel knew, the place was a frame house (not log), insinuating that the old Fry home had been torn down in previous years.

In Search of Ed Haley 197

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Ed Haley

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

At that point, Ida gave us her account of the Haley-McCoy murders.

“Some man that lived down there at Hart had a business and Al Brumfield had a business,” she said. “Al Brumfield, he wanted to get rid of him so he would get all the trade and so he was supposed to paid them so much to kill him. And they hid as they come out of Harts Creek, they said, one Sunday afternoon, I believe. They were hired to shoot and kill Al, but they hit the woman. She was riding on behind him on a horse. I can remember seeing her. She married again after that — a Ferguson. She wasn’t a very large woman. She died with a big hole in her cheek there where they shot her. They said they went into Kentucky and got them and they was supposed to delivered them back to the law over at Hamlin, our county seat. And they stopped down there to stay overnight. That was supposed to been the house of John Fry across the track there, I was told. That was a stop-off place. Do you know where Lonnie lives now? Well now, there’s where the log house stood.”

Ida stopped, thinking, then said, “I used to hear Dad and them talk about it. He said where their horses were tied in those fences… You know how they used to build the old log rail fences? He said they tore that place apart that night, those horses and all the shooting and everything going on. And said when they were eating supper that night — Green McCoy and Milt Haley — said one looked over to the other’n and told him, said, ‘You better eat all you want because this will be our last meal.’ Sure enough it was. Started shooting them in the bed and they was handcuffed together. I don’t know what hour it was but it was some time in the nighttime, you know, after they’d gone to bed. Now Grandma Cat was at that house that night when those men were killed. And they said when that was going on she hid up a chimney — big open fireplace. She hid up in there. It was kindly a rough time, they said.”

I asked Ida if she ever heard anyone mention the names of the vigilantes.

“Who was in the pack?” she said, laughing. “People just surmised it, I guess. I wasn’t told but my daddy, he always thought Uncle Charley — that was one of his brothers — was in on it. He was a huge man, Uncle Charley was. As well as I remember, he was real fair-complected. He finally got killed afterwards. Uncle Charley, I went to his funeral. He was a big, fat round-faced fellow and he had bullet wounds in his cheeks. Back then, the undertakers, you know, they didn’t have all that stuff to work with then.”

Brandon asked Ida if Bill Brumfield was in the gang and she said, “Uncle Bill? Now, I never did hear his name mentioned. He was accused of murdering, you know, but not them.”

Billy said, “They was about 20 or 30 of them. Wild times.”

I asked Ida if she ever saw the “murder house” and she said, “No, but my mother told me about it. At that time, she was going to school around at what they call the Toney Addition. And she said when they went out of Green Shoal that morning to school, you know, Milt and Green was laying out in the yard still handcuffed together. Mother thought they was colored people. They were beat up, I guess, and shot, you know, and blood all together — that’s the reason she thought they looked like colored people. That’s what she said. Now, she seen them. And I remember tales they’d left a little stream of blood run down through the yard. There was blood all over. I remember that very clearly, her telling us that.”

Ida said the old Fry home at the mouth of Green Shoal was torn down years ago, probably when the site was “built up” by the railroad around 1904.

In Search of Ed Haley 196

12 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Ed Haley

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

To get to Ida’s house, we drove a short distance up Green Shoal Road, a somewhat narrow strip of pavement that snaked its way alongside the creek. We were welcomed inside by some of her family, who knew Billy and Brandon. Just inside the door, I spotted Ida sitting in a chair near a bed and a fireplace. In the initial small talk, we learned that Ida was born on Green Shoal in 1914 and had lived there all of her life. Brandon began by showing her a picture of her grandfather, Paris Brumfield. She said her father Jim Brumfield (1880-1965) had spoken of him.

“Dad said he kindly mistreated their mother,” she said. “He drinked an awful lot. The children were afraid of him. Now, I can remember Dad talking about seeing him get killed. Uncle Charley was the one killed him, his own son. I think Dad said he was about 16 years old — maybe older. Dad said he was hid up on the hill behind a foddershock when Uncle Charley shot him. Said he was laying down the drawbars and said Charley told him not to come any farther and he just kept going and he shot him in the back. He said he saw the dust jump out of his jacket. He’s told us kids that lots of times.”

Jim was practically raised by his brother Al in Harts because his mother died not too long after his father’s murder. In 1900, he was with his brother John at Chapmanville when they were attacked by the Conleys. He was stabbed and carried a piece of the knife blade in his body for the rest of his life. A little later, he fell out with his older siblings (Al, Rachel, and Charley), who he felt had “swindled” him out of some of the family property.

Brandon asked Ida if she remembered going to visit Hollena Brumfield and she said, “I never was there. Dad didn’t think much of her as a sister-in-law.”

Ida said she’d kinda been raised away from all the Brumfields around Harts.

“They used to come here, but we never was down in there too much,” she said. “The first time I was ever in Uncle Charley’s house is when I attended his funeral. And Uncle Bill’s house, I never was there at all. But I always liked him. He was here quite a bit, Uncle Bill was, you know. Spent a little time in jail for killing a man. I was afraid of him, though. He was a little guy and wore a little sandy mustache. He dodged around up in here after they found this man dead. He’d been dead quite a while and he’s supposed to got beat up at Uncle Bill’s house. I think he beat him up with an axe handle as well as I remember. They carried him back in there someplace. That’s what we were told. Billie killed Uncle Bill. Said he was drinking whiskey out of a half a gallon jar and Billie slipped around the house and shot him. They thought that was over his mother, too. They was really rough down in there.”

Ida said she heard about the Haley-McCoy killings from her mother Letilla Dial and grandmother Cat Fry (the infamous “Aunt Cat”). Ida’s mother Til was raised by Sarah Lucas, who married a Brumfield and then later a Workman. Hearing the name Lucas caused me to ask Ida if she knew anything about Boney Lucas.

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “They was raised up on the creek here. Boney Lucas — I’m not sure but I believe that was Aunt Sarah Workman’s brother. I can remember hearing her talk about Boney Lucas. Now, they were raised down here someplace in a log house.”

In Search of Ed Haley 195

11 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by in Ed Haley

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Early the next day, Brandon and I met Billy at his home, with plans to go see the site of the “murder house” at Green Shoal. We found his father, Bill, Sr., seated in a wooden rocking chair very much “in his own world.” He’d been born in 1906, making him one of the oldest citizens living in Harts. Curious, I got my fiddle out and played a few tunes for him. The old gentleman just stared at me like I was crazy. He never said a word. Billy told him we were interested in Ed Haley’s life and he surprised us all when he said Ed used to stay with his father for two or three days at a time. Oh yeah, he said…Ed even slept in the same bed with him and his brothers, who were children at the time. Wow! Bill said Haley was a very serious guy (“not carrying on much”) and had a reputation for being “bad to fight.” He often got with a local fiddler named Dood Dalton and played all night for a house full of people at the Adkins home. Bill also remembered him playing in front of the old Adkins Store/Harts Post Office around 1916 when it faced the railroad tracks. All he could recall about Ed’s technique was that he tapped his feet and pulled a long, smooth bow.

After talking with Bill, Billy, Brandon, and I drove out of Harts Bottom onto Route 10 past the old Adkins store and on up the road to Green Shoal. At that location, standing in a little drizzle, we surveyed the possible sites of the murder house. Suddenly, an older man Brandon and Billy recognized as Doran Lambert came walking down to where we stood on the railroad tracks. A descendant of Paris Brumfield, he lived where the Tucker Fry home stood in 1889. Doran said the murders didn’t happen at Tucker’s place, as Billy thought, but at the present-day location of his father’s garage just up the river between the Guyan River and the C&O Railroad.

We asked Doran more about the Haley-McCoy killings. He said his aunt Ida Taylor, who lived just up Green Shoal, could tell us all about it. A niece to Al Brumfield, her father Jim was Paris’ youngest son. We decided right away to try and see her.